tube people begone!

Let’s hope John Boenher isn’t chatting with Taro Aso any time soon. Almost a quarter of Japan’s population is over 60 years old, and on January 21 Japan’s new finance minister suggested that they should be allowed to “hurry up and die” because of the cost of their medical care. Icing the cake, Aso referred to patients who can no longer feed themselves as “tube people.”

“Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government,” said Aso during a meeting of the national council on social security reforms. “The problem won’t be solved unless you let them hurry up and die.”

The 72-year-old minister says he’d refuse end-of-life care. As one of Japan’s wealthiest politicians, he’ll be able to purchase the death he wants.